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Easter island

After a very luxurious flight which took 6 hours (8 with time difference), we arrived at Easter Island. We hoped to see some Moai from the airplane but unfortunately that wasn’t the case. There was barely any internet connection on the island so we were completely off the grid! We took a taxi to our Airbnb where our lovely host welcomed us.

The Moai on Easter Island

We dropped our stuff and went for a walk. The first Moai we saw was close by and off course we photographed it many times. We walked to the main street via the shore and noticed the incredible waves slamming against the island.

The plan was to dive the day after, but we were a little frightened after we saw the rough ocean. The main street of Hanga Roa was not very busy, but it had everything we needed for our stay at Easter Island. First, we bought two tickets needed for visiting the Moai sites and national park. (they are obligated when visiting the Moai and cost $80 USD per person). Then, we booked our dive for the next day, to dive to the Moai that’s 25 meter below surface. After that we went to a restaurant, had a nice dinner and got back to our home.

The next day we heard that our dive wasn’t possible due to the big waves. We postponed it for a day and decided to rent a quad instead. We wanted to see the whole island with it and went to the first Moai site close to Hanga Roa. Here were 7 Moai close to each other. We took some pictures and got back on our quad to see and visit a cave a few kilometers away. There, the road ended and we had to go the other way. We drove to the other side of the island where many Moai used to stand, but were fallen down, probably because of a tsunami. Off course we visited all of them before we went to Rano Raraku, the place where the Moai used to be made.

Rano Raraku

On this mountain, the most beautiful Moai statues are found, combined with a beautiful view. It took us a small hike but it was worth every step. After photographing every Moai we left Rano Raraku, to drive to a Moai site nearby where 15 Moai stand in a row. This is also a big site on Easter Island and we understand why. What a beautiful sight it was! We drove further to the far north of the Island where the only beach was located, off course accompanied with more statues. After that, the sun was about to set so we had to get back to Hanga Roa and enjoy the sunset at the first Moai site we visited. It was a bid cloudy, so it wasn’t that much of a sunset, but we were glad we had seen it though. After dinner, it was very dark on the island, so we returned the quad and went back home.

Our dive still wasn’t possible the next day so we decided to rent a car (which was actually cheaper than a quad) and drove to the biggest mountain on the island to have an amazing 360 degrees view. We had to hike for 1,5 hour to get to the top but the view was amazing! We walked back down, got in the car, and drove to Rano Raraku again, because we wanted to see this again. After that, the sun was about to set again so we drove back to Hanga Roa to have dinner and go back to our house.

The last day

We had the car until 10.00 am the next morning so we went back to the 15 Moai to see the

sunrise there. Getting up at 05.30 to be able to witness this was totally worth it and our pictures prove that! We couldn’t dive anymore because

Padi regulations say that there has to be at least 12 hours between a dive and a flight and our flight was leaving at 14.30 that afternoon. We returned the car and packed our bags. After that we went to the main street to drink our last drink on this island and to buy some souvenirs. We were expected to be at the airport at 13.00 and we could board immediately because it was the only plane leaving there 😝

We enjoyed Easter Island very much. It is incredibly beautiful, even without the Moai statues. But honestly, that’s the biggest reason people visit here off course. Next, we were in Santiago where we went by bus to Mendoza, Argentina. But you’ll read about that in our next blog!